Writing up as you go along is a great idea, but depending on the discipline you may find that you need to rewrite it extensively to work the material into the thesis. This happened to me. My early chapters were fine, but to work them into a large humanities-style thesis/argument I had to totally restructure them. Yes I could reuse a lot of material that I'd written as I went along, but much had to be new, and I couldn't just copy/paste to achieve a good result. I'm actually into my third round of writing now, and expect to hit at least fourth before finishing! On the plus side I started writing very early, so I'm still ahead of schedule. As for how long the writing will take well that will vary too by discipline, and in my case it's taking ages. You also have to factor in enough time to deal adequately with supervisor feedback about thesis chapters. If you're lucky that will require minor changes. If unlucky you could be back to the drawing board again.

I'm a part-time student based away from campus and have felt phenomenally isolated throughout my PhD. There's another student I'm in email contact with, and meet occasionally. But they suspended their studies for a long time so we haven't even been going through the same thing for years. We have an online bulletin board system but virtually no-one uses it, despite there being dozens of PhD students in my department (mostly part-time). I focus on completing my PhD, keeping in touch with my supervisor, and going through the required hoops to get there. But it's a very isolated experience.

I did a part-time taught history Masters course a few years ago focused around weekly afternoon taught seminars. Extra work required included preparatory reading (we had a reading list to work through each week), and writing essays and of course a lengthy dissertation. On average per week I put in about 5 hours extra on top of the taught afternoon session. Time needed was longer during the dissertation stage, but even then I got by on a surprisingly small number of hours. And I got a distinction in the end and went on to do a PhD, so it can't have been too detrimental. Good luck!

Afraid that Masters graduation probably won't count as qualification for the Carnegie Trust PhD funding: the website states first degree needs to be Scottish, not a subsequent one. Oh dear. Hope you find something somewhere else.

The Carnegie Trust provides funding to graduates of Scottish universities which can be a good alternative to research council funding. You may not qualify for it, but check it out to be sure. See http://www.carnegie-trust.org/our_schemes.htm

I'm another one who relies on lists and deadlines. Without a list my mind can wander, and I don't make the progress I should. With a list I can break down harder tasks into more manageable ones and get on with things much quicker. Hey, even making a list can be productive in itself! Deadlines are also a major motivation for me and I work backwards from them to figure out how long each sub-task will take - again lists you see, which keep me moving. And I try to reward myself: do a bit of work before surfing. Or have a cup of tea and a biscuit after I've done a certain amount of work.

What stage are you at? Are you still researching, or have you started writing things? In either case I'd recommend drawing up a list of what you should be getting on with, then breaking it down into smaller parts. Pick the most appealing item on the list to start with (alternatively read that as the least unappealing!), and tackle that. Then once you've done that move on to the next item and so on. I also find that brainstorming in general helps, to make track of where I am now, and where I might go next. Have you agreed deadlines/targets with your supervisors? Did your supervisor give any advice on how to overcome your worry? They're there to guide you through this process, so make sure they help. But it's definitely not too late. I've had much longer periods of down-time (admittedly I'm part-time so schedules are more fluid) and have managed to pick myself up again. Just in the process of doing it now actually, though a looming deadline helps. Good luck!

Hi Lara,

The email looks fine, to the point, and almost certainly required as a reminder to keep things moving given your time scale.

Good luck!

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Two big changes for me: being able to study part-time this time, and switching from science (computer science) to humanities. Note I didn't aim to start a second PhD for a very long time. One part-time OU course led to another and I soon had a BA and then a part-time Masters. And then I thought why not? Started it, and won funding a year later.

As for the second-time PhD it's going well I think, though I was in the mid-PhD doldrums for much of the last year (equivalent of 2nd year full-time), and am just getting out of that. On the downside I'm still long-term progressively ill (why I had to drop out of a full-time computing PhD over a decade ago) and I do worry about whether I'll be fit enough to complete. But I have mostly written the thesis now, and have very supportive supervisors. So overall I'm optimistic.

However it is a radically different experience this time around for me, due to the change of subject area and working patterns. Much better. Really enjoying it. Just wish I was healthier so I could give it more of a fair crack. I'm conscious that my research has been more restricted than I'd like it to be. But my supervisors are confident about my work.

That's really good advice, and very similar to what I did (albeit on a smaller scale) with 2 journal papers and revising them to deal with reviewers' comments. Basically I enclosed a summary document (either letter or email) outlining briefly how I'd dealt with each point. If all else failed the editor could just read that and not have to wade through the entire paper to see what had been done, though obviously they should have double-checked some of it. Similar thing applies on a larger scale to a revised thesis. Good luck to everyone who's resubmitting.

The only advice I've seen on numbers of chapters is on pages 48-49 of Patrick Dunleavy's "Authoring a PhD" book where he comments on likely numbers of chapters compared with thesis length. Based on an 80,000 word thesis he suggests that 8 chapters is a good option, so he obviously doesn't go in for worrying about even numbers! Personally I'm going to have 7 chapters in my thesis. Well that's the current plan. 6 mostly written, conclusions still to do.

It really does depend on field and your boss. My husband is a post-doc in sciences (computing) and generally works in the lab because he's working in close collaboration with colleagues. I'm disabled and have lots of care/medical needs which my husband has to help with. Fortunately his boss is very understanding and allows him to work at home quite regularly for this, to help take me to frequent hospital appointments etc. We have broadband access at home and he can keep in email and phone contact with colleagues. But this is unusual in his group. Generally they have to be in the office every day.

I'm part-time and do miss out on a lot. It's full-time students who are offered teaching opportunities (especially since such teaching takes place during the working day/week). They're also the ones on campus everyday who see staff most regularly, and can take part in informal events. There are other opportunities for socialising out of hours etc. but if you want to take part for example in postgraduate seminars (if they are offered), or to attend departmental research seminars, you will need to take time out of your job to do so.

Sorry that I can't be more positive but I do feel pretty cut off, and have done for years. I've moaned at my department's PG staff person, but he's totally geared around supporting people who are on campus (full-time). We do have a Blackboard bulletin board system which should provide some contact with other students. Virtually no-one uses it :-(

But maybe your experience will be different. Good luck!